SHENZHEN, China — South Korea’s badminton queen An Se-young has delivered another warning to her Asian Games rivals.
The world No. 1 defeated Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki 21-17, 21-6 in Sunday’s women’s singles final at the China Masters in Shenzhen, winning her third consecutive title at the tournament and extending her remarkable winning streak to 33 matches.
The victory was completed in just 45 minutes, and An did not drop a single game throughout the five-match tournament.
More importantly, the China Masters was An’s final competition before the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, giving the reigning Asian Games champion a powerful final statement before she heads to Japan.
And what comes next could be even bigger.
From injury setback to dominant comeback
An’s current run is particularly impressive because her season was interrupted by a left-foot injury.
She withdrew from the Japan Open in July after playing only one match and subsequently missed the China Open.
When she returned to competition at the World Championships in New Delhi in August, questions remained about whether she could immediately regain her previous form.
She answered them emphatically.
An won her second career world championship, defeating Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi 21-17, 21-14 in the final without dropping a game during the six-match tournament.
Less than three weeks later, she has added another major title.
That makes her China Masters victory more than another trophy.
It is evidence that her return from injury has quickly turned into another dominant stretch.
Miyazaki tried to challenge her — then An pulled away
The opening game was competitive.
Miyazaki, ranked ninth in the world, stayed within two points of An for much of the early stages before the Korean star began to create separation.
An eventually moved ahead 13-10 and capitalized on errors from her Japanese opponent to establish control.
Miyazaki briefly narrowed the gap to 18-15, but An closed the game 21-17, finishing with a decisive smash.
The second game was a completely different story.
An exploded out of the gate by winning the first eight points.
After Miyazaki finally got on the scoreboard at 8-1, An immediately responded with three consecutive points and never allowed the match to become competitive again.
She closed out the second game 21-6.
Third straight China Masters crown
The victory gave An her third consecutive China Masters championship.
It also strengthened a remarkable record against Miyazaki.
Before Sunday’s final, An had won all seven of their previous meetings. She maintained that perfect record with another straight-games victory.
Miyazaki had nevertheless arrived in the final with significant momentum.
The Japanese player had stunned China’s world No. 2 Wang Zhiyi 21-19, 23-21 to reach the championship match.
But against An, that momentum disappeared almost immediately.
The 33-match winning streak
An’s victory also extended her winning streak to 33 consecutive matches, according to Chosun’s post-match report.
The streak has included victories at some of the biggest tournaments on the badminton calendar.
Earlier this year, An won the Malaysia Open, Indonesia Open, India Open and Singapore Open in succession, before adding her first career Asian Championships title in April.
At the Asian Championships, she defeated China’s Wang Zhiyi in a three-game final to complete a career Grand Slam, joining her Olympic, world championship and Asian Games titles. Badminton Asia officially recorded the victory as her first Asian Championships crown.
Then came the injury.
Then the world title.
Now another China Masters crown.
The timing could hardly be better for South Korea.
All roads now lead to the Asian Games
The next target is no longer another World Tour trophy.
It is the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan.
The Games officially open on Sept. 19, with the women’s badminton team competition beginning Sept. 20. The women’s singles competition starts Sept. 25, while the singles final is scheduled for Sept. 29.
An will attempt to defend the women’s singles gold medal she won at the previous Asian Games.
And there is history on the line.
No South Korean badminton player — male or female — has ever won consecutive Asian Games singles gold medals.
An therefore has an opportunity to accomplish something no Korean badminton singles player has done before.
The pressure will be enormous
Being the world No. 1 and reigning world champion makes An the obvious favorite.
But the Asian Games will present a different challenge.
Unlike a regular World Tour event, An will compete under the weight of representing South Korea at a major continental multi-sport competition.
China, Japan, India and other badminton powers will bring elite players capable of challenging her.
Her biggest rivals include familiar names such as Wang Zhiyi and Akane Yamaguchi, both of whom have already faced An in major finals this season.
There is also the additional pressure created by her extraordinary recent success.
Once a player wins 33 straight matches, every opponent enters the court knowing that ending the streak would become a major story.
An has already completed one major career milestone this year
The 2026 season has already added another major achievement to An’s résumé.
Her Asian Championships victory in April completed her career Grand Slam, combining:
- Olympic gold
- World Championships gold
- Asian Games gold
- Asian Championships gold
Badminton Asia described the Asian title as the missing piece in her collection.
She subsequently won the World Championships again in August, giving her a second world title.
Now she is chasing something different.
Not another missing trophy.
A repeat.
The biggest challenge may be maintaining the standard
An’s greatest opponent in Japan may not necessarily be one particular player.
It could be the expectation surrounding her.
She arrives as the world No. 1.
She is the reigning Asian Games champion.
She is the reigning world champion.
She has won three straight China Masters titles.
And she has not lost a match in 33 attempts.
That level of dominance creates enormous expectations.
But it also creates an unmistakable psychological advantage: every opponent knows they are facing a player who has repeatedly found ways to win.
Korea now waits for history
An Se-young could have chosen to rest before the Asian Games after winning the world championship.
Instead, she entered the China Masters and used it as her final competitive test.
The result was another title, another straight-games victory and another extension of one of the most remarkable winning streaks in modern badminton.
Now there is nothing left to prove in Shenzhen.
The stage moves to Japan.
And if An can maintain the form she showed in China, she will arrive at the Asian Games with something even more valuable than another trophy:
momentum.
But the Asian Games will ask the question that the China Masters could not answer.
Can the world’s No. 1 badminton player turn an extraordinary winning streak into something no Korean singles player has ever achieved?
Back-to-back Asian Games gold.
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